The collapse of the Sasago Tunnel in Yamanashi Prefecture three weeks ago put a spotlight on the state of Japan’s infrastructure, and how many of the bridges and tunnels that were built during the period of rapid economic development in the 1970s and ’80s ...

A report published this year by a national association of ryōkan (traditional inn) owners notes that one of the most common problems facing its several thousand members is a dearth of suitable successors — meaning there will be no one in line to run ...

Most images of North Korea appearing in the media express just a few aspects of that country — namely, repression, militarism, poverty, backwardness, gloom. Often, the form of photographs of that communist dictatorship conveys those ideas, too — whether by being blurry, taken from ...

Got a spare ¥4,000? With that small sum you could not only enjoy a live rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” or George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” but at the same time you could provide four Sudanese refugee families each with a set of ...

Tokyo’s Aoyama district will ratchet up its hip quotient this weekend when it hosts the Aoyama Jazz Initiative, a student-run celebration of jazz. Hosted by Aoyama Gakuin University (AGU), the event is now in its third year. As always, it will feature student bands ...

Ever since Colonel (Theodore) Roosevelt split the Republican Party, and the Democrats at Baltimore chose Dr. (Woodrow) Wilson for their presidential nominee, it was apparent to all unbiased observers that the Democratic candidate would prevail.

What’s green, fuzzy and has a starring role in Japan’s national anthem? And no, it’s not Kermit the Frog, who wasn’t around when the lyrics for “Kimigayo” are thought to have been penned, sometime in the 9th century. The answer is moss — the ...

What to make of Makoto Aida? One day, he’s filling a giant blender with thousands of naked young girls and whirring them into a bloody concoction. The next he’s piling up dead salarymen into a great mountain — nay, several great mountains, which recede ...

Broadly speaking, two types of art have emerged in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear crisis. On the one hand there is art that has been made for the crisis — that is to say, for the ...